The Guardian
by Dareagon
Summary: The Uzumaki are Guardians of a secret heritage. Upon failing to graduate and being banned from ever becoming a shinobi, Naruto is done with the village. He sets out to discover his families heritage. Their secret. He still somehow bonds with team 7 along the way and they are closer than he could ever have imagined.
1. Chapter 1

**The Guardian**

Summary: The Uzumaki are Guardians of a secret heritage. Upon failing to graduate and being banned from ever becoming a shinobi, Naruto is done with the village. He sets out to discover his families heritage. Their secret. He still somehow bonds with team 7 along the way and they are closer than he could ever have imagined.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokemon! I just like playing with them.

Beta: the lovely **Midnight-Kitsune11**. Thank you for putting up with me xD

AN: Hola!

This is also something I started writing for **NaNoWriMo 2019**.

There are very few serious Naruto – Pokemon crossovers. Especially once that are located in the Naruto world.

So I decided to write one ^^ Enjoy.

**Chapter 1**

_**Hiruzen**_

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." the Hokage said.

And he meant it. He was so, so sorry for this. Especially now. After the whole fiasco with Mizuki, Iruka, the forbidden scroll and the Kyuubi reveal, this was the last thing Naruto needed to hear.

And yet, Hiruzen could not _not_ mention it now – waiting would only cause more problems.

Naruto was shrinking in on himself, trying to make himself as small as possible.

"Is there really no way, jiji?"

"No, it seems the academy has seen fit to pass some regulations to deny students entrance after failing to graduate three times."

And there was nothing he could do about it. Hiruzen grit his teeth. In an attempt to keep the Academy neutral between the clans and the civilians, it had been decreed independent during the Shodaime's reign. Not even the Hokage could veto their decisions. It wasn't hard to guess why that rule had mysteriously popped up now, or why it had only been voted this year.

The academy however, was open to civilians, whether they became shinobi afterwards or not (some just went to learn to read and write). So there were civilians on the board, and Hiruzen had long suspected now that even the ninja in the Academy hadn't liked Konoha's jinjuuriki.

He'd just been too busy to investigate it. He hadn't know they had brought such a rule in play.

They'd been unusually happy when bringing him the news though, after he informed them to make sure Naruto could stay at the Academy to have another chance to graduate later on.

Too happy.

The Academy was, regrettably, the only organisation in Konoha that could promote civilians to genin.

Now, the only chance Naruto had at becoming a shinobi, was through Danzo's program. And to be honest, Hiruzen was not going to permit that. Not ever.

There was always the apprenticeship program, but Hiruzen couldn't count on that. The principle was that if a shinobi of jounin rank or higher took on a student (a lone student, not a team) then they had the power to promote said student into Konoha's ranks.

But he wasn't holding his breath anymore. Jiraiya hadn't been in the village (refused to come back, actually) since Minato's funeral and the man barely even asked about his godson any more. Now, Hiruzen knew just how important the man's spy network was, no denying that, but he had hoped the man would at least be a part of Naruto's life. Even if the only way they could appear connected to the public eye was as jinjuriki and seal master.

But it wasn't to be.

The only other shinobi who Hiruzen had hoped might step up, was Kakashi. It might have been a fools hope, especially given Kakashi's personal history. Still, he had hoped that after all these years the child's need might have been noticed by the man. He honestly thought that those two would have been so good together. Helping and healing each other.

Nothing healed heartache like taking care of an innocent child after all, but he had never pushed the issue, knowing that would only push Kakashi farther away.

And curse the person who had excluded the Hokage from being able to take an apprentice.

Why were Konoha's rules and laws so complicated?

Hiruzen was so tired of it all. Either he immediately assigned a successor who he knew would clean up this mess that his village had become, or he put on a pair and did it himself.

Burning with determination, he looked at the sad young man before him.

No more. Naruto was precious to him, like his own flesh and blood.

He was the damned Hokage and he wouldn't stand for this any longer.

If this whole mess had even one hint of Danzo's meddling... heads would roll. He had warned his friend, after the almost-mess that had been the Uchiha rebellion. He had made sure that Danzo had understood there was a limit to what he would tolerate.

If he hadn't learned his lesson… This had Danzo written all over it though, given that the root program was Naruto's only shot at being a shinobi now, and Danzo had never been shy about wanting the jinjuriki in his ranks.

Both as Hokage and as someone who loved Naruto and saw him not only as a jinuriki but as a human being, Hiruzen would never allow that.

NEVER.

Seemed like Danzo needed another reminder of that. For the umpteenth time.

Hiruzen was done being the nice old man people saw.

"Naruto-kun, I must admit I am not happy with this new rule and how people are treating you. It might take a while, but I promise I'll make things right." Hiruzen promised.

Naruto looks up with tears in his eyes. "But jiji, what do I do? I can't just do nothing. I... I can't go to the academy any more, and I won't get any money any more! How will I eat?"

True, the orphan fund sponsored orphans once they entered the academy and gave them money to live outside the orphanage. It was a stipend big enough to cover the basics and rent for a simple place to live in.

Of course, now Naruto would not be getting that money any more. Most children who didn't manage to graduate, didn't try a second and especially not a third time. They usually went their own way, going back to being civilians, and either working in a shop or going on to learn a trade.

Hiruzen was very sceptical that anyone in Konoha would give Naruto a job, never mind that they'd agree to teach him anything. Forcing them wouldn't help either. That he had learned while trying to force the academy teachers to teach Naruto.

He'd had the most luck with the last one, Umino Iruka. He had hoped Iruka would recognize his own behaviour in the boy, exaggerating everything, playing pranks for attention, always smiling… But the man had gone on to ignore the blond. Hiruzen hadn't insisted, feeling ignoring him was better than actively trying to sabotage him. Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't one to learn things by himself though. So the end result had been just as disastrous.

The lack of money could be a real problem, but Hiruzen was crafty.

"Don't you worry about that, Naruto-kun. Your family left quite some funds when they died. They've been set aside and you couldn't access them until you reached the legal graduation age. I'll make sure you get a stipend from that."

He'd looked into the situation before. While their house had been destroyed in the Kyuubi's attack, Minato and Kushina's bank account had remained in the Hokage's trust all this time. In fact, it had been gathering quite some interest over the years.

If that wasn't enough, the Senju accounts were also still available.

Naruto was related to the Senju – Kushina had been Mito's niece, who had married into the family – so he saw no harm in accessing funds that were just gathering dust.

Meaning Tsunade had been one of the people who could have taken care of Naruto, just like Jiraiya and Kakashi. All three had a legal base to do so. All three had refused.

Tsunade even refused to step foot into Konoha, no matter how often he had asked or ordered her to. After all those years… he understood the need to grieve, he'd lost enough people himself to understand, but honestly, there was a limit. If every shinobi in the village demanded a decade long sabbatical every time they lost someone precious… there would be no one left.

No matter how much debt she seemed to accumulate over the years (he didn't even want to know how much she owed after gambling and losing for decades), she hadn't tried to access the accounts, because to do so, she had to physically get back to the village. A technicality, but he had refused to allow for extenuating circumstances. It felt petty, but he wasn't going to budge on it.

Come to think of it, was there not a sealed Uzumaki property somewhere in the village? Yes, he had some documents concerning that in the tower somewhere.

Maybe he could give those to Naruto. Having something of his family might give him something to do while Hiruzen worked to have the system reorganised.

"I have some paperwork concerning your family." He said in the end. "I'll dig it up and have it brought to you."

The poor boy was too downtrodden to even look up any more.

Hiruzen grit his teeth.

Seeing the boy he considered a grandson so down was unnatural. It felt too late, was too late, but Hiruzen had finally found his line. The line he had not known had existed and which said 'until here, but no further'. A line the village had waltzed over without a care in the world.

Well, Hiruzen knew now, and the village would soon know as well.

_**Naruto**_

The days after his failed graduation and that whole spiel with Mizuki and Iruka and the Kyuubi, were… long. Very long.

Naruto didn't actually have anything to do. He'd never thought he'd miss going to class (he'd skipped them as often as he could).

He spend endless days in his bed, just staring at his ceiling.

He'd only cried once, when he got back from his talk to Jiji.

He'd mostly just been pissed off after that.

Finding out the truth about the Kyuubi had been a shock. The village had called him monster for years, but… it had still come as unexpected. He'd had no idea beings like him were actually possible, so how could he have known?

Mizuki had been so happy to tell him, cruelly happy, and Iruka's only defence of him was to try and stop Mizuki from saying anything, because of some law.

He hadn't spoken up about the blond, hadn't tried to sooth his worries. No, by the time Naruto had seen his Jiji, he had been on the verge of a panic attack.

Luckily once everything had been explained, he had calmed down. Still, the Kyuubi, on top on being told his dream as a shinobi was dead because the village hated him just that much? It had been hard.

He'd been very sad. Not for long though. He'd gotten angry quickly.

Almost a week alone, locking himself in his apartment had given him a lot to think about.

And he had come to a conclusion. Apart from his Jiji and maybe the people from Ichiraku Ramen, nobody cared about him.

Nobody.

The friends he'd thought he had made at the Academy hadn't bothered to check in on him and, as soon as he stepped a foot outside, the ugliest looks followed him everywhere.

It was worse than before, because they taunted him, jeering and in general enjoying his shattered dreams.

So, he decided enough was enough. He was done trying to get their attention, trying to get them to change their mind about him. It was obvious now they never would.

It was depressing, realising that, and it was hard not to feel angry about it.

So he wasn't in the best mood when he was disturbed.

It was an Uchiha that knocked on his door, and handed him a package he could just guess was full of paper. An Uchiha with a headband, long hair in a pony tail and a very serious look on his face.

"Hokage-sama wanted me to give this to you. Said it's about your family, Uzumaki-kun."

"Thanks and bye now." Naruto said as he snatched the package away. He tried to close the door in the guy's face, but he was too quick. An arm shot forward and Naruto wasn't strong enough to not push him way as he held the door open.

"Hokage-sama asked me to stay, in case you need help reading it."

"I can read just fine, dattebayo!" Naruto cried out loudly.

Never mind that he had practically taught himself to read, and that he still struggled with Kanji.

The guy actually smiled at him, and Naruto stilled forcefully. Except Jiji, Ayame-neechan and Teuchi-san, no one ever smiled at him. He eyed the man suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi."

"Uchiha? Ah, you're related to that teme!" He pointed accusingly at the guy with his free hand.

"I'm going to assume you are talking about my otouto, Sasuke-kun?" The guy replied stoically. "I think you were classmates in the Academy, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Naruto flinched as the Academy is brought up.

The guy tilted his head. They stared at each other.

"May I come in?"

"Will you go away when I say no?"

"No."

"Then, no."

"Too bad." The guy gently pushed him aside and walked in.

Naruto pouted, but didn't protest. He'd learned to pick his battles.

He pulls the door closed behind the guy and flushed. Itachi was looking around his apartment and Naruto, never having had anyone over, hadn't seen any harm in not tidying up. Like, ever.

And so it was only now that he realised how messy his place was.

It was embarrassing.

Still, the guy had practically forced his way in, not taking no for an answer. If he really wanted to be here, he could deal with a bit of… this.

With a big gesture, Naruto pushed the empty ramen packages from his table, and let them fall on the ground.

The guy twitched and Naruto couldn't help but grin.

"You should at least run a wet cloth over that, Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto stuck his tongue out, but did as the guy suggested. These were precious papers from his family after all.

He held a piece of cloth (it might have been an old t-shirt, he wasn't sure at this point) under the water in his sink, and made for the table.

The guy made a strange noise and grabbed the cloth from him.

"Hey!"

"You need to wring out the excess water before you get it everywhere."

"I have to what now?" Naruto blinked in surprise. There were rules to cleaning?

"Just... let me."

Naruto scowled, hearing the exasperation in the guy's voice.

In an act of rebellion, he took his package with him into his room and shut the door before the guy could follow him.

Just because no one had ever taught how to clean, honestly, it wasn't Naruto's fault he didn't know! Who was this guy to just judge him like this?

He turned away, banished the jerk from his mind and gently put the package on his bed.

The took the plain wrapping paper off and blinked. Of course, a book.

A book with squiggles on the cover.

He sighed. This could be… difficult.

Naruto had never liked reading. Never really thought he'd need it. How could reading make you stronger, faster, and just a better shinobi? He hadn't seen the interest in learning about Konoha's history. It was all long gone and done, after all. Why should he care who the founding clans of the village were, or who fought in which battle, once upon a time?

But this? This was different.

This was about his family. Something they had left behind, for him!

This was special. So he didn't mind making an effort (even if he already knew it would be hard).

He tried to open the book, but the cover won't budge. Now what?

Was there a trick to opening books now? He hadn't a lot of experience on the subject, but he didn't think it should be this hard. Book were supposed to open, right?

He tried a few more times before putting some force in his fingers. He was really trying with all his might, nearly flinging it across the room in the process, but it just won't budge.

He was pissed off. Was he really having to ask the Uchiha jerk for help in opening his book?

Come on!

After ten more minutes, he had to admit defeat. Clearly brute force wasn't going to work, and apparently he wasn't smart enough to figure this out either.

Go figure.

He took a deep breath, held the book in his hands, and walked towards his door. He pressed an ear against it, trying to hear if the jerk was still there.

There were some voices. Had someone else come in? Who? And why?

And why were they talking to the jerk and not to him?

He opened the door dramatically.

"Who are you?!" He pointed at the new guy.

And it was a new guy, someone he'd never seen before. He looked a lot like the jerk and Sasuke, so he had to be another Uchiha.

This one's hair was shorter and a bit wilder.

"I'm Shisui." The guy smiled at him.

Naruto eyed him suspiciously. "And what are you doing here?"

"I just came to find Itachi. I haven't seen him in a while."

"So, you let him in?" He asked Jerk number one.

"I did not."

"So he broke in. Alrighty, now there is Jerk number one and Jerk number two." Naruto sighed, still in a bad mood.

"Oi, that's not very nice." Number two scolded him lightly.

"Neither are you."

"That's not true! Itachi, tell him how nice I am."

"No."

"Oh come on, work with me here, cousin." The guy whined.

"Oi, cut it out. You, Jerk number one, you said you were here to help me, right?" Naruto interrupted them.

"Do you have trouble reading it?" The guy asked seriously, but without seemingly making fun of him.

Still, Naruto had to bite his tongue not to yell at him.

"Well, I have no idea. I can't get the stupid thing to open."

"Hmmm… May I see?" And Itachi held his hand out.

Naruto handed the book over, but only because the guy hadn't started laughing at him yet.

Itachi studied the cover intently and Shisui leaned over to see what had the other so intrigued.

"These are some very complicated seals." Itachi said as he traced the squiggles with a finger.

"Seals?" Naruto tilted his head to examine them.

"Probably some security seals then." Shisui commented. "Is this a special book?"

"My family left it behind." Naruto shrugged.

"Blood-bound then? I mean, that would make the most sense." Shisui asked Itachi.

"It seems most likely. That means it's a seal that can only be released by the right blood. "Itachi explained at Naruto's confusion.

"So what? I just bleed on the thing? Won't that damage it?"

"A drop of blood should be enough."

"Yeah, blondie, no need to bleed yourself dry to unlock this." Shisui said dryly.

Naruto frowned, but accepted the book back when it was handed to him. He studied his hand, wondering how to best go about this. He could cut his hand? He'd seen shinobi bite their finger, but … that seemed a bit… he wasn't sure.

He turned towards his kitchen to get a knife, only for Itachi to hand him one of his kunai.

Naruto wasn't a shinobi, not even one on training any more, so he didn't wear his kunai pouch, but he had one in his room.

Still, it felt easier to just accept the kunai than to brush of the guy and go take his own out of his room.

So he reaches for the blade, but Itachi doesn't let it go. He gentle gripped Naruto's hand and turned it over.

"Just a little cut should do it." Itachi moved slowly, as if scared of Naruto freaking out, and brought the kunai close enough to make a small cut on his index finger. Blood immediately appeared.

Naruto wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, trusting a stranger with a knife, in Konoha, had never been a good idea. People really didn't like him. On the other hand, no one ever volunteered to touch him either.

Pushing that out of his mind, he focused back on his book. His family's book. So he just smeared blood all over it?

He asked the question to Itachi.

"The centre of the array on the cover. There is a blank space in the middle. Place it there."

So, Naruto pressed his finger right where the Uchiha indicated.

There was no flash, no bang, no sign of any kind, except for a small click.

Eagerly he opened the book.

It was hollow. Someone had cut out a space in the pages to store something. There was a note on top labelled Uzumaki. He sat down at his little table, put his book down, and grabbed the note. Under it, is a strange white and red card and a little red machine.

Shisui leaned over shamelessly again to see. He heard more than saw Itachi hit his friend.

Feeling a little nicer, Naruto opened the note and read it out loud.

"Dear descendant. Take the key card and dex with you to the clan grounds. You'll know what to do." He read in confusion, before he exploded. "Is that it? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"They probably assumed you'd know." Itachi said.

"What? So my dead relatives are jerks who think I'm psychic?"

"Or just smart." Said Shisui softly.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Naruto was just getting somewhat used to the two and now Jerk number two had to ruin it.

"Easy, easy." The guy held up his hand in surrender.

Naruto glared at him.

"I'm sorry. It does sound very confusing." Shisui tried to apologies.

Naruto grumbled, before focusing on the note again, only to see Itachi had reached over and was reading it as well.

"Clan grounds? I did not know you had any clan grounds in the village, Uzumaki-kun."

"Neither did I." Naruto scratched his head. "I didn't even know the Uzumaki were a clan."

Shisui blinked at him. "I remember a bit about that. Weren't they from Uzushio though? Why would they have had clan grounds in Konoha?"

"Most of the clan perished when Uzushiogakure was destroyed, yes." Itachi agreed. "We should go see the Hokage and ask for more information."

"Let's go!" Naruto agreed with a cheer.

The idea of going to see Jiji and learning about his family cheered him right up. Even if he would probably have to take these two Uchiha with him.

Maybe Jiji could throw them out when they got there? That would absolutely make his day!

**TBC. **

**What do you think? ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokemon! I just like playing with them.

Beta: the lovely **Midnight-Kitsune11**. Thank you for putting up with me xD

**Chapter 2**

_Hiruzen_

"Jiji! I opened it, but it only had a note and it is very confusing!" Naruto yelled as he barged in.

He was most surprised when after a knock on his door, Naruto entered followed by Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui. He knew he'd send Itachi to help the young boy with whatever it was Mito had left behind for her successor, but where did Shisui fit into? And why were they here?

"Why hello, it's nice to see you again, Naruto-kun. What brings you here today?" He lightly reprimanded.

"Ah, sorry Jiji." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Good morning."

Hiruzen smiled at the blond, showing he wasn't angry.

"Good morning." It was already close to midday, but he wasn't going to be difficult now. "Now, what is troubling you?"

"There were these squiggles on the book, and that guy told me it was some sort of lock!" Naruto pointed at Itachi, who eyed the finger warily.

He was right to be wary; Naruto didn't always pay attention. He had nearly poked out Hiruzen's eye a few times.

"And I had to cut myself, and the lock opened. And it wasn't actually a book, just a note and a card and a little machine!"

Hiruzen blinked. That was unexpected… "May I see the note?"

Naruto immediately handed it over.

Hiruzen read it. Ah, he might understand the confusion. He rubbed his chin in thought. "Clan grounds?"

"Yes, so the note says," Itachi spoke up, "But I have never heard of Uzumaki clan grounds."

Hiruzen had though. He wasn't sure where they were there any more though. It had been a long time since it had come up, and to be honest he had hoped it might have been mentioned in Naruto's book.

"I do recall hearing something like that from my old sensei. It's been too long for me to remember clearly, but I might know where we can find the answer to that question."

He stood up and walked towards the bookshelf at the other end of his office. He picked up the biggest book there, the one that had been written during the founding of Konoha. It included all agreements between the village and every clan that had joined and obtained privileges.

He gently laid the book on his desk and sat back down.

"Let's see."

It took him a while to find the right pages. He quickly read through them. The little blonde was already fidgeting in his seat.

The Uzumaki pages were few. The clan had never been very big in Konoha. Except for Mito, Kushina and their children, Konoha had never been home to any Uzumaki - a fact that the village had mourned when Uzu had been completely destroyed.

How quickly this village forgot…

And now there was only Naruto.

There wasn't a lot written in the book, but what he found was quite detailed.

Konoha had been built on Uzumaki land? Mito had been responsible for it and had gifted most of the land to her husband as part of their wedding arrangement, to build the village on.

Part of the land, the part that had stayed in Uzumaki hands, would forever remain Uzumaki property. There were lines here, detailing how even if all Uzumaki were gone form Konoha, it still would be private property.

Huh…

You learned something new everyday.

"Yes, the Uzumaki do have property here in Konoha. If you want, Naruto-kun, I can show you where it is?" He confirmed.

"Please." Naruto replied eagerly. "Can we go now? Can we go see it?!"

The Hiruzen made a show of watching his clock, before he smiled at his favourite blonde. "I suppose I do have some free time now."

Like he was going to deny the boy anything after the last few weeks. He'd kept an eye on him, through his crystal ball and he had never seen Naruto look so down and so depressed.

So seeing the blond so cheered up now, it lightened his heart.

"Yatta!" the boy jumped up and waved his arms around.

"Can we come?" Shisui asked eagerly.

Hiruzen eyed the two Uchiha. Both boys had risked everything a few years ago to prevent the massacre that had been brewing. Never had he been as thankful as the night the two came to him, to double-check their given orders. He still remembered their pale skin and horrified eyes (even if they hid it well), as well as their relief when he had been shocked speechless.

"The decision is Naruto-kun's, but these two are some of my most trusted shinobi." He told the blond.

Both Uchiha straightened proudly.

Naruto eyed them warily. "Fine, if you trust them, Jiji." He shrugged.

Hiruzen took the three kids (and yes, even the two Uchiha were still children in his eyes, no matter their rank), to the top of the Hokage monument.

"Here we are. The grounds beyond the monument are actually yours now, Naruto-kun."

"Huh, I hadn't realised there was so much space up here. Or trees." Shisui commented.

True, there was a small forest up here, and it was quite hidden from view when standing in the village.

"This is actually Uzumaki ground, it's not part of the village." Hiruzen said.

"Like clan grounds?" Shisui asked.

"No, the grounds above the Hokage mountain are certainly part of Konoha, but they belong to the Uzumaki. They were part of Mito Uzumaki's marriage to our Shodaime and by their agreement will never fall under Konoha's jurisdiction."

"Why?" Itachi asked.

"Konoha is originally build on Uzumaki clan lands. They gifted most of that land as a sign of goodwill and later as proof of Uzushio's continued alliance with us. Uzumaki Mito was the Keeper of the land. That remained firmly in Uzumaki ownership. As far as I know, she never let a non-Uzumaki step foot on them."

"You can do that?" Shisui asked in wonder.

"Of course, with fuinjutsu. After her death, the Uzumaki send some seal masters to lock up the property until another Guardian could be assigned, but Uzushio was destroyed in the War before someone could be send."

Kushina hadn't spent much effort on it. Her dreams of being Hokage and the violence of the war had kept her pretty occupied. The seal work was flawless and she hadn't seen a reason to un-seal it and leave the fate of the property in jeopardy because of the war. Afterwards she had fallen pregnant and then died in the Kyuubi attack.

He looked at her son, who unknowingly had stepped right through the seal wards, like they weren't even there.

Hiruzen had stopped and now he gestured to the two Uchiha boys to do the same.

He'd need to find some time to sit the boy down and tell him about her. He'd wait to tell him about Minato. It was still too much of a risk, should the secret leak somehow (and yes, Danzo immediately sprang to mind, for a lot of things these days) since Naruto wasn't strong enough yet to defend himself.

"Just a second, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said to the boy who was simply continuing walking.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked them confused.

"There are very strong seals in place here, Naruto-kun. We cannot go forward, unless you let us pass." Hiruzen explained.

Naruto scratched his head. "And I can just walk through? That's rubbish."

Hiruzen laughed. "Yes, but your blood allows you entrance."

"Like the book? But I didn't have to wipe my blood on anything this time." Naruto frowned, deep in thought. "Wait, I don't have to wipe blood on you guys, right?!"

"Just a drop on our hands will do." Hiruzen smiled at the boy's reaction. Such innocence. "It's not permanent. You'll need to be careful who you give your blood to, and every time someone wants to enter they need to have some on them. Luckily, it only works with blood willingly given. SO you don't need to worry about anyone hurting you to get inside."

Naruto frowned.

"I can help you make something permanent, when you decide to give people access to the grounds, but don't you worry about that just yet." Hiruzen said.

Naruto nodded at him, face still scrunched up and opened the wound on his finger again.

_Naruto_

Entering the property was strange. This was his land. His. His to do with as he pleased.

In theory, anyway.

He wondered what his family had left here, what they'd needed to protect that badly.

No one had been here in decades, Jiji had said, so it couldn't be anything alive, right?

He looked around curiously.

Jiji was walking next to him, and so were the bothersome Uchiha duo.

Naruto guessed he could get used to the two, if he had to.

But honestly, what were the chances they'd keep hanging around once their curiosity was satisfied?

Honestly, Sasuke-teme would probably hear about this, and say bad things about him as soon as he could. Neither of them would bother with him after that.

It would be like the Academy all over again. Everyone listened to Sasuke.

They kept walking through the trees until a building appeared. There was a second floor, and the building was bigger than an average house. It was roundish with light walls and a darker roof. There was no indication any more of the colours that it might have once been painted. All they could see was the brownish walls. There were windows and even a door, but those were grey in dust. Overall, it looked dusty and old, if the outside of a building could look like that.

"Well, this place sure can use a good cleaning." Shisui commented.

"I wonder what's inside?" Naruto mused as he walked to one of the windows and tried to peer inside.

No, he couldn't see anything through the dirt. Jiji stands next to him and peers at the window as well.

"It doesn't look like anyone has been here in centuries. This place was abandoned long before Mito was its keeper; there is no other explanation." Jiji said as he tried to wipe a bit of dirt away from the window.

"Do you think we can go inside?" Shisui wondered.

"Maybe not without destroying the building. There is no way to tell how damaged the walls are from out here." Itachi studied the building.

Naruto left the window be and tried the door. It's locked, but there is a strange little box at the left side of it, with a slit that covers it all the way down.

His finger traces the line, and he can feel the groove of it. Almost like something fitted in between there.

He thought back.

Hadn't the note mentioned a key card?

Was that a card to open this door? Another door? It did say it was a key right? He took the card and the red machine out his pocket and held the card before the little box.

Nothing.

He frowned.

He'd been so sure.

Wait, maybe…

He tried placing the card in the slit.

"Hey, this fits!"

There was a little green light on the machine and the door slide open, slowly and with difficulty. But it opened.

It got stuck halfway through.

"Hmmm… Should we try and force it further open?" Shisui asked.

"I fit." Naruto shrugged and stepped inside.

The inside was just as dusty as the outside. Now, Naruto wasn't the best at seeing dirt and things that actually needed to be cleaned up (just look at his apartment), but no one had ever actually taught him to do so. It was a valid excuse.

Here, though, there was no way to not see it. It wasn't that the place was mess, no, that part seemed alright. Just the dirt and dust…

It made him sneeze. Repeatedly.

"Try not to break it, but open the door, Shisui." Jiji said from outside. "Naruto-kun, see and try if you can open a few of those windows. That might help with the sneezing."

He tried to listen, but the sneezing just got worse, and he ended up banging his head on the windowsill.

Itachi came to help him and opened the window for him.

He hacked his lungs out, or so it felt anyway. He froze though, when a hand gently rubbed his back.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he regained his breath.

"Just trying to help." Itachi replied.

"Let's have a look around." Jiji interrupted whatever Naruto was going to say next.

But Naruto wasn't that easily distracted. Not this time, at least.

"Why?" He asked Itachi instead.

"Why what?" Itachi frowned at him.

"Why would you try to help me? And how is a hand on my back supposed to help?"

"Isn't it natural to comfort someone who is upset? I find it a nice gesture." Itachi tilted his head. "Sasuke too gets upset when I try and comfort him, but that is because he thinks I exaggerate and that I am too protective."

"You are!" Shisui yelled from across the room as he walked towards them.

"No one ever touches me if they can help it, except when they try to hit me." Naruto bit out.

He really doesn't want to hear about Sasuke right now.

"So, don't touch me." He pushed the guy away from him and focused back on the room.

The Uchiha people made some weird movements and he turned back to look at them. Shisui had his arms around Itachi and was whispering furiously, while Itachi's frown deepened.

Naruto shrugged. Those two were so weird.

He looked around, finally realizing what the room looked like. Well, he tried to imagine it without all the dirt.

There were some tables with cushioned chairs and benches on one side. There was also a big counter with some sort of screen behind it. And there was an open fire as well. A big bookshelf on one wall and stairs that go up on the other side of the room... He'd have to check that out.

There were three counters in the big room. Between the middle on and the one on the left was a door. Between the middle one and the one on the far right were stairs to the upper floor. Naruto eyed the door, curious to see what was on the other side.

All in all, it didn't exactly look like a home. Some sort of business?

Jij was busy studying what he could from the books, so Naruto went to stand next to him.

"Can you read that?" He asked as he saw the faded writing on the spine.

"Oh, I am not even going to try. These books have been here for a very long time. They are probably very fragile. Just picking them up might cause them to fall apart."

"So we'll just leave it like that?"

"Well there are people in Konoha who are trained to handle delicate documents. I could send one or two over to make them usable again."

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed, not sure if he was comfortable having yet someone else unknown in here. Those two Uchiha people were enough.

"Maybe someone can be send to clean this place up as well!?" Shisui said as he studied the counter. "Maybe assign a team or something. Isn't this ideal for some genin team? Because honestly, I've never seen so much dirt in one room before."

"No." Naruto immediately said.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Shall I just invite the whole village? Jiji said to be careful who to reveal this secret to. I know some of the genin who just graduated. They are blabbermouths." he said resolute.

There was silence, all of them just looking at him.

"So what? You are going to do everything by yourself?" Shisui asked with disbelief.

Naruto shrugged. "I always do. How will this be any different?"

"Now, now, let's not be hasty. This might actually work out. I have a team of genin who are one person short." Jiji shot Naruto a look.

He suddenly felt very nervous. Was Jiji actually saying... Was that supposed to have been his team? If he had managed to graduate?

"It's happened before, of course. It's impossible to have the exact amount of graduating students every year, but teams like that are usually put on hold. They get to train and do D rank missions, but they are not allowed out of the village, being one person short. I could assign this year's team to help you out here. Indefinitely."

Naruto was starting to reconsider. That might actually be... nice? He wondered who was on that team. Who he wanted it to be...

He actually had no idea. Once he had thought Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru had been his friends, but after two weeks of not seeing them, of no interest being shown on their part, he wasn't so sure any more.

The girls were just plain loud, always screaming and fawning over Sasuke. He still liked Sakura-chan, she was very pretty after all. But... She wasn't very nice. At least not to him. And the only girl who didn't fawn over Sasuke was Hinata, who was just plain weird. She seemed nice enough, and he had tried to talk to her on a few occasions, but she always turned red and never actually talked back, so he had given up on that.

Who else was there?

Sasuke. Nope.

Shino. Shino was… very quiet. He frowned, trying to recall if he actually ever had a conversation with Shino, or if the boy had ever done anything to him… no… So Shino could be nice.

"Hey, Itachi, isn't that Sasuke's team?" Shisui asked. "Didn't he say they were a person short yesterday after meeting his team for the first time.

And nope!

No way!

No way in hell!

"Keep in mind, that you would actually be their client, and they'd have to listen to you." Jiji said with a smile as he saw Naruto turn red in rage.

Huh… he hadn't thought of that.

But would that mean that they (whoever the other two persons were) wouldn't deliberately try and do stuff to hurt him, like break stuff?

"Maybe, but how can I be sure they won't break stuff on purpose? Sasuke really doesn't like me, and I really don't want… Well, them to bully me any more." He said hesitantly.

Itachi straightened. "Sasuke bullied you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, I mean… I think I gave as good as I got? But honestly everyone goes out of their way to show me how unwelcome I am, everywhere I go. And the Academy wasn't any different."

"Didn't the sensei put a stop to that?" Itachi's face was blank, but there was a hard edge to it.

"Ha." Naruto laughed bitter. "They usually started it. The other kids just piled up."

All three are frowning now.

"You never told me that, Naruto-kun." Jiji said.

Naruto ducked his head. "It's not a big deal. I just… don't want to have to deal with that here. This is my family's place. And sure, those two are weird as hell, but they don't seem too bad. They certainly aren't as bad as the rest of the village. That I can tell, it's still early on." He gestured to the two Uchiha.

"We're not too bad? We are awesome, thank you very much! And weird? Compared to who?" Shisui asked indignant.

"Everyone else, except for Jiji." Naruto shrugged again.

"I think you mean that Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun treat you like you are a decent person and the rest of the village is just 'weird' for not doing so." Jiji said with steel in his voice.

That was his Hokage voice.

Naruto shrugged. "That's just the way it is."

Both Uchiha frown at him.

"Maybe you can try it, on a trial run." Shisui scratched the side of his face in thought. "Itachi and I can come as well, and we can keep Sasuke and his team in line, no problem."

Itachi nodded. "With you permission, Hokage-sama."

"Hmm, that might be a good idea." Jiji hummed. "Just until we are sure there is no trouble."

"Fine." Naruto sighed. "I wonder what's in here?"

Done talking about those heavy subjects, he walked towards the door next to the counter and tried to open it.

It opened with no worries, which was a relief. Behind the door, was a space, just a bit smaller than the one he'd just left, but it was divided by two screens and there were a lot of high tables and machines around. It was just as dirty as the other room though.

"This reminds me of an abandoned hospital." Shisui commented.

"When have you been to an abandoned hospital?" Itachi asked.

The two had followed him in and now stood behind them.

"This could have been some sort of doctors building. This room is where they treated patients and the previous room could have been some sort of waiting room." Itachi said.

Huh, did that mean his family were medics? He wasn't sure that was something he wanted to do.

"There is a basement!" Shisui called out from the other side of the room.

He was looking through another door and Naruto and Itachi joined him.

"There is even a generator here. I don't think it works any more though."

"Probably still a little." Itachi corrected him. "Otherwise the front door wouldn't have opened."

"Yeah, well someone will probably have to come look at it. It doesn't look like it's still working."

Naruto took a peek. The machine Shisui talked about stood right next to the stairs down, and it did look like it had seen better days. Lots of wires, and pieces, but no sign of light. They were lucky there was a window in this room as well, since it would be very dark in here otherwise.

"I'll ask Jiji to send someone over tomorrow." Naruto sighed resigned.

Seemed like he had no choice but to allow people inside, especially if he was thinking of maybe making this place liveable again.

Shisui walked down the stairs to the basement.

"There is another door there but this one is sealed again, like the book!" He called back up while trying to open the door anyway.

Naruto felt elated. It might not be nice, but he honestly couldn't care less. He was happy there was a spot he could explore on his own, without the two Uchiha's looking over his shoulder all the time.

"Let's go see upstairs then." Naruto said after a bit of silence.

Itachi shot him a look, but Naruto only shrugged. He didn't need to explain himself to these guys.

But they did follow him upstairs. Naruto waved at Jiji as they passed him.

There wasn't much to see upstairs. A few rooms, each full of bunk beds, a big bathroom, and a kitchen space with a few tables. It wasn't much, but it meant the world to Naruto.

Because a plan was forming in his mind. When he got this place cleaned up, he could move in here. Everything he could need was here, and if it meant being away from the village for a while, he was all for it.

Jiji called them down soon after, ready to leave for the day. "With your agreement I'll send someone tomorrow who can help with the books and even the generator back there. I'll assign team 7 as soon as they report for duty as well, if that is still what you had in mind?"

"Sure, I'd like to see this place clean and working again." Naruto agreed.

At this point, he wasn't too bothered any more. The sooner this place was restored, the sooner he could move his stuff into it.

This was going to be awesome!

**TBC.**

**Please leave a review on the way out if you like the story so far! **


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokemon! I just like playing with them.

Beta: the lovely **Midnight-Kitsune11**. Thank you for putting up with me xD

**Chapter 3**

_Hiruzen_

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since the forbidden scroll incident. Two weeks since the whole village buzzed about Naruto's failed graduation and had not-so-secretly celebrated it. Two weeks, and only now, when Kakashi came back from his first team meeting, did the man approach him about Naruto.

Hiruzen himself was just back from his visit to the Uzumaki property and already he wanted to hit something. Preferably Kakashi at the moment, but anyone would do at this point. Danzo was still a favourite on his list, but he had other plans for his old teammate.

Clearly, it had been way too long since he had a decent spar. Or just a fight, for that matter.

Still…

Kakashi was entering his office after having met his new genin team and then demanding to know where Naruto was and why he wasn't his sensei was just…

Did the man not _live_ in this village? Did he really pay nothing but his books any attentions?

"I thought you didn't want a genin team?" He asked instead of the more… impolite questions he wanted to blurt out.

"I don't, but especially not this team. You gave me an Uchiha! Fugaku is going to be impossible. And I thought it was agreed I would get to teach Naruto?"

"Given your Sharingan, you are the best teacher for the boy. He has enough family teaching him at home."

"And Naruto?"

"Naruto? Naruto didn't graduate." Hiruzen stated.

Kakashi's reaction would have been hilarious if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"What? How did that happen?"

And so Hiruzen explained.

"My own village did everything they could to make sure Naruto couldn't graduate, ever."

And it was true. After Mizuki's interrogation, the truth had come out. How he and other teachers had made sure to sabotage Naruto's exam. Not by failing him on purpose, but by making sure that the only questions asked were about material they knew Naruto was struggling with.

"I've never been more shocked, nor appalled by the attitude of people."

Kakashi had to sit down in shock.

"So, he can't ever be a shinobi?" The jounin asked stunned.

Hiruzen sighed. "Not as it stands right now."

"But… What about my team?" The man looked completely lost.

"You'll have to make do with a two man team, for now." Hiruzen said, already thinking further ahead. "I have some ideas in the meantime. Naruto might benefit from some help and I plan to assign the mission to your team."

"I… yes, thank you." The man bowed at him, still not completely there.

"Report here tomorrow after team training. I'll make sure the paperwork is taken care off." Hiruzen dismissed the man.

Kakashi took the hint and left quickly.

Hiruzen let a sigh escape.

_Naruto_

The next day, Naruto had to go meet everyone at the edge of the wards again.

This would get repetitive, but he honestly liked it this way. Now, no one could enter unless he let them in. No sneaking where he didn't want people.

Shisui and Itachi were there, together with another guy. He hadn't seen him before, but he waved as he saw Naruto approach. That was a good sign.

Maybe Jiji had given him a talking to?

"Hi, my name is Kamizuki Izumo. Hokage-sama send me here to do some repairing?"

"You know about electricity and old books?" Naruto asked sceptically.

"Not really," the chuunin admitted, "but I am good at repairing stuff."

"Shall we get going?" Shisui asked eagerly.

Naruto nodded and gave them entrance again. They made their way back to the house.

"So… what exactly do you need me to do?" Izumo asked. "The Hokage was being pretty vague this morning."

"There are very old books that need to be cleaned and possibly repaired, and an old generator." Itachi replied for him.

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "That's right!"

"Books are no problem." Izumo said. "Depending on how many there are, I might just get everything done today."

"Depending? On what?" he asked confused.

"Well I have a special jutsu to help me with this." The man smiled at him.

Naruto felt his eyes widen and he had to bite his tongue to not ask him to teach it to him. He was only a civilian after all.

"I can take objects and restore them to their prime condition. It does take a large amount of chakra though, so depending on how much you want me to repair, I might have to come back tomorrow."

"Can you do the generator first?" Naruto asked already thinking ahead.

If he had light in the basement, that would be much easier than the flash-light he had brought in his backpack.

And he was very curious to see what was in there.

"Sure." Izumo agreed. "Just show me where it is."

"I'll take you. You two can start cleaning." Shisui said happily as they entered the house.

"Sure." Naruto shrugged, before turning to Itachi. "So… how do we best start, do you think?"

Itachi looked at him, and for a second they were silent.

"You have cleaned before, right?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"Of course." Itachi looked around. "Best to start from up high. That way the dust doesn't fall down again."

"Smart!" Naruto cheered. He was secretly relieved at least one of them knew what to do.

Itachi magicked them a few brooms (no really, he opened a scroll with squiggles on and they just appeared!) and they started trying to sweep the ceiling.

It was a long and tedious work, because Naruto kept having to sneeze. Needless to say, lots of dust came down.

All of a sudden, Naruto got a very prickly feeling. It felt very strange, almost like someone was watching him, but Itachi was busy cleaning and Shisui and Izumo were still in the back.

So, where was the feeling coming from? It was almost… like a bell? A warning maybe?

"Hey, do seal wards have alarm systems?" he asked suddenly.

Itachi looked up. "I have no idea, but I assume it could be possible."

Naruto frowned. "I feel weird, like I should go check it out, but I don't think anyone else was coming today..."

"Maybe the Hokage sent team 7 already?" Itachi mused thoughtfully. "Do you want me to come and check it out with you?"

He sighed. "No it's fine. I'll be right back."

He walked out and towards where the tingling feeling was taking him.

He could hear them before he saw them, and he had to take a deep breath before he continued on and walked towards the seal ward's edge.

"You guys are loud." He complained loudly.

Sakura screeched at him. It was so loud he couldn't make out if she was saying any words or just making noise.

"What are you doing here, dobe?"

Naruto grit his teeth. This was going to be a long day.

The adult with them bopped Sasuke on the head. "Mah, mah, no being rude to our client, Sasuke-kun."

"Client!?" Sakura screeched loudly.

Damn that hurt. Both his feelings, and his ears.

Again.

"No need to yell. I might just change my mind again and ask for someone else."

The two genin blinked at him. "He can do that?" Sakura asked their teacher.

"Of course. All clients can complain, though it doesn't usually happen before the mission even starts. The council reviews their complaint, and if they agree with the client, you get a permanent mark in your file." The man with the gravity defying white hair explained to her.

Yeah, Naruto thought, unlikely. Like anyone would side with him on anything.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, jounin teacher of team 7. Nice to meet you." The man introduced himself.

Naruto eyed him shrewdly. He sure looked strange, what with his mask and that headband over one eye.

"Uzumaki Naruto." He replied. "What exactly is your mission?"

"You don't know?" Sasuke sneered at him.

"There is a lot of stuff to be done." Naruto shrugged. "Jiji said he'd take care of it, but he didn't say much more than that."

"We are to help you out in any way we can for the next week." Kakashi smiled at him. "The Hokage mentioned we would primarily be cleaning?"

"Sure, there is cleaning enough to be done. I might need some new furniture as well, once that is done."

"Splendid. I'm sure my team will excel at this. You won't have any complaints."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, don't hold your breath on that one."

He took a deep breath. "First, I need to give you access to the seal wards."

"Is that why we can't go any further?" Sakura asked interested.

"Yeah, only someone with Uzumaki blood can get in." Naruto said before biting in his finger. "Which is why you need to have some Uzumaki blood on you. Literally."

"EW! You are going to cover us in blood?!" Sakura stumbled back a few steps in disgust.

"Covering you in that much blood would kill me." He sassed back.

"I assume this will need to be re-applied every day?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, Jiji is going to figure out something that lasts longer, but I don't want people coming and going as they please right now." Naruto shrugged. "Where do want yours?"

"Hmmm…" The man mused. "A drop would be enough? You may place it behind my ear, if you don't mind."

The man crouched down so he could reach. Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. What the hell? Why there?

"Why there?" Sasuke asked. "Wouldn't on our hand be easier?"

"Well, no, not if we are cleaning. I'm assuming you'll come into contact with water at sooner rather than later and then it will wash off immediately."

"Does that mean you'll actually help us complete our mission, sensei?"

"Mah, mah, I'm just leading by being a good example."

"That's actually no problem." Naruto shrugged. "Once you are inside, you don't need to keep the blood on you. Just keep in mind that you can't re-enter afterwards, unless I give you some more."

"Ah, my fault for assuming." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Naruto snorted. He pressed his bleeding finger to their hand and watched all three of them walk through the seal ward.

The genin immediately rubbed the blood away as best as they could.

Naruto rolled his eyes again. What was he, contagious?

"It's this way."

He led them back to the house.

"Wow, that's a lot of… is that dust? Dirt?" Sakura commented as she saw the building.

"Hence the cleaning." Naruto said sarcastically. "We've already started inside though."

"Hey there." Izumo welcome him back. "I finished with the generator. Well, I finished what I could."

He was standing by the book case, a book in hand. Before their eyes, the book seemed to de-age and in about ten seconds, it looked like new.

"That is cool!" Naruto said, honestly impressed.

"Izumo."

"Kakashi."

The two greeted each other.

"What was that about the generator?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's one like nothing I've ever seen before. It doesn't seem to be connected to an electricity network, but rather work on batteries? I have no idea why, maybe they had a way to recharge the batteries." Izumo shrugged. "My jutsu restored it completely, so your batteries are fully charged for now, but I have no idea what to do once that reserve is gone."

"Hmm…" Naruto scratched his head. "That's annoying."

Still, it also meant that he didn't need to hire people to connect him to the electricity in the village. So that was good.

Still he'd need to be careful not to waste any energy, until he found a solution.

"I also took a little break just now and took a little walk around the house. You seem to have a water tank built underground. With your permission I want to try to restore that as well? Maybe tomorrow though, my reserves can't handle such a big task right now."

"I'd appreciate that. Will it be filled with water as well, when you are done?" Naruto asked.

"Depends?" Izuma shrugged unsure. "I have no idea how big it actually is. Depending on that, it might be easier if I don't restore the water itself, but only the tank."

"I can help fill that up with a water jutsu or two, if you want." Kakashi suggested.

"Sure, thanks." Naruto said, grateful.

"That would actually be a big help. That way, I'll have some chakra left for the books as well." Izumo agreed.

Naruto looked around. It already looked a bit cleaner. The ceiling was a dirty white colour though. He'd have to go and search for some paint as well, it seemed.

"Where are the other two?" he asked, noticing Itachi wasn't around any more.

"They went to buy us all lunch. Didn't you cross them on your way back?" Izumo replied with a frown.

Naruto shook his head. "Lunch is a good idea though."

Sasuke and Sakura stood a bit awkwardly in the doorway, looking at the room in disbelief.

"We'll never get this done in a week." The girl muttered in shock.

"We'll stay as long as we need." Kakashi corrected her gently. "Let's get started then shall we?"

"Aren't we going to wait for the food?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Nope," Kakashi smiled again, "Food is for working people. We're already starting late."

And so, both genin grumbled but grabbed some equipment and started dusting the furniture and open fire place.

Kakashi read some sort of little book he brought with him and Naruto quickly joined his old class-mates. He did also keep an eye on everyone in the room, which is why he didn't like it when Sakura paid more attention to the books than the bookcase they were in.

Izumo shot her a look. "Keep cleaning, please."

She flushed, and turned away.

Naruto slowed down his cleaning of one of the tables to watch her.

She tried being sneaky about it, but she kept reaching back to the books.

He made a small comment or two about it, but she kept insisting.

It was getting on his nerves.

"Don't touch the books." Naruto barked once again as he saw Sakura reach for the bookcase.

Again.

What was so hard to understand about this?

"Oh, shut up, Naruto-no-baka!" She exploded in anger, readying her fist to hit him.

She stood very close to him, and he resigned himself to having bruises. Again. He'd really hoped this would have stopped after leaving the Academy.

It had been his one light point in the darkness after being told he couldn't become a shinobi like he had always dreamed about.

But Kakashi grabbed her hand before she could touch him.

Which was a new development. No one had ever done that for him before.

"Sakura, a word? Now." He said and shunshined her out of the house.

He blinked at the place they had stood.

"That girl, honestly..." Izumo sighed, just as Itachi and Shisui came back in.

"We bought food!" The more outgoing of the two greeted with a cheer, holding up two bags of take-away food.

"Nii-san?"

"Hello Sasuke." Itachi greeted his brother.

Shisui pouted. "Hey, I'm here too, you know! Don't I get a greeting from my little cousin?"

"Nope." Sasuke said shortly. "What are you two doing here?"

"We are helping Naruto-kun out." Itachi smiled at his brother.

"Yep, yep, and we brought Ramen! We really should eat this while it is still hot!" Shisui said as he waved his bags around again. "Naruto, I asked Teuchi to include your usual order."

Naruto cheered loudly. Ichiraku Ramen was the best!

They ate in silence outside, just to be out of the dust for a little while, and also to give the airborne dust that had come loose earlier some time to settle down again.

Kakashi and Sakura joined them soon enough. The girl looked downright sad and subdued, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to care much.

They spent the rest of the time cleaning in silence, and while Naruto was glad to see the girl go at the end of the day, he wasn't sure what to think of Sasuke. The Uchiha had kept a close eye on all of them, while cleaning as asked. He didn't complain, and he didn't insult Naruto.

Izumo had been nice to him, and the man assured him he'd be back the next day to continue his task. Even Kakashi seemed alright, though he didn't really help out a lot.

All in all, it was a very strange day.

Once everyone left, Naruto felt his stomach grumble. Time to eat.

He felt reluctant to leave though.

With a deep sigh, he made his way to his apartment and packed some clothes, and blankets and stuff. Most of the room downstairs had been made dust free today, so he could sleep over there already.

He tried to take some food as well, only to realise he didn't have any groceries left. Damnit. He'd need to try and get some groceries… He grabbed his stuff, threw it in a bag and deposited it in his new house ready. Then, with an even heavier heart, he made his way back into the village, towards the shops that were least likely to throw him out.

Damn…

Grocery shopping was a nightmare. Still. It had been for a while now, but today was particularly bad.

It had never been easy but he had made a brilliant leap forward after learning how to use the henge jutsu in the Academy. Looking different had made his trips for groceries much easier, and much cheaper as well.

Just now, he had been physically thrown out of a shop.

He landed on the street, luckily only on his bum and not face first.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up. Just his luck. Sasuke looked down at him, hand in his pockets.

"Oh, don't mind me. I just enjoy getting thrown out of shops." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked at him. "What did you do to that poor man? Prank him to death?"

Naruto flinched. "I never have. People just don't like me."

"There must be reason. People don't just hate others without reason." Sasuke frowned at him.

"Yeah, that's what you'd think." Naruto shrugged.

It helped, sort of, that he now knew why the village treated him like this. Part of him could understand it now as well. He couldn't remember the Kyuubi attack, but he understood it had been very frightening. Lots of people had died as well. Their Yondaime, for one. So he got that.

He wasn't sure why they treated him like he was the Kyuubi though. Was it the whisker marks on his cheeks?

Either way, it just didn't seem smart to antagonize the demon who had caused that much destruction in the first place. If he had been the Kyuubi, he wouldn't have taken this laying down. Just saying…

"What were you trying do in there either way?" Sasuke interrupted his thoughts.

"Grocery shopping."

"Why?"

"Because… I won't have any food otherwise?" He asked in a tone that questioned Sasuke's sanity. "Why else?"

"Yeah, I know that. It's just, why do you have to-"

"I don't have any parents, remember?" Naruto interrupted quickly.

Sasuke flushed and looked away. He cleared his throat.

"And shopping is always this… difficult for you?" he asked instead.

Naruto nodded, feeling very defeated suddenly. It wasn't anything new after all. He should really be used to it by now…

"If that is the case, why don't you just use a henge to look... Well, not like you?" Sasuke suggested.

"I did do that but as an Academy dropout and civilian I'm not allowed to any more. They put some very high fines to that, and I really don't want to challenge them on that." Naruto sighed as he finally got up, tired of sitting on the ground.

"Why would anyone go that far?" Sasuke asked with a disturbed frown."Even if they don't like you, that seems a bit… extreme."

Naruto could only shrug. Like he knew what these people thought. He was very happy not understanding at this point.

Sasuke studied him so intently Naruto started feeling uncomfortably.

"Give me your list. I'll go get your stuff." The Uchiha held his hand out.

Naruto watched him with narrowed eyes, not handing over his note. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Just hand it over." A vein twitched around Sasuke's eyebrow.

"No, seriously, why?"

"Can't I try being nice to you?"

"You never have before..."

"Well, I am now."

Naruto still felt very suspicious. "Fine, but I'll only give you the money after you deliver what's on the list!" he said, not about to hand him his money.

"I'll be sure to keep all my receipts." Sasuke smirked as he held his hand out again.

"Fine." Naruto sighed resigned.

If this was something Sasuke wanted to do, who was he to complain? It would make things a lot easier for him, and if this really was a trick of some sort, then all he'd lose was his list (which he could simply rewrite) and some time.

"Oh, can you bring it to the house when you are done? That would be easier."

"Sure, see you later."

And with that Sasuke walked away.

Huh. Who would have thought?

**TBC.**

Please let me know what you think? No Pokemon just yet, sorry ^^'

**Question time:** I already have a few ideas, but if you could choose one Pokemon to appear in this fic: which one would that be and why?


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokemon! I just like playing with them.

Beta: the lovely **Midnight-Kitsune11**. Thank you for putting up with me xD

**Chapter 4**

_Hiruzen_

He was so glad he asked young Itachi and Shisui to help Naruto as much as they could. He'd done so himself but he now found himself busier than ever before.

He'd called Nara Shikaku to him as soon as he could, giving the man the task of unearthing every piece of paperwork Danzo had ever touched.

He knew it was a monumental task but one that had to be done none the less. It had taken a while, but little by little extra paperwork found its way onto his desk.

First had been the files he'd known about; papers approved by the council during meetings, that sort of thing, but why Danzo had been involved in Academy matters was beyond him. Oh, he understood perfectly well _why_ the man had done so. That no one had known about it was shocking.

Seeing the completed assignment now, the mountains of paperwork involved…

Danzo had a hand in seemingly everything; from the war with Hanzo long after Konoha had retreated there, to taking in orphans during the massacres of bloodline clans in Kiri (that he took in in secret to add to his own forces), to vanishing children from their own village – from orphans no one would miss to clan children that had disappeared years ago – all to add to troops that he as Hokage had forbidden from existing, to the existence of _Root_…

Root, which Hiruzen had asked, and later ordered, to be disbanded. An organisation he had always loathed, but had seen as necessary during times of war. The third great war had been over for years now. In fact, most of the children in Root now had never known it, except from history books.

Kami, Danzo even had been involved in the mess that had gotten Orochimaru branded as a missing nin.

He knew now why Danzo had been so against Hiruzen finding a peaceful solution with the Uchiha clan when whispers of rebellion had reached him. He knew now what Danzo had done to instigate those whispers in the first place.

It's a relief now, reading the notes so traitorous in nature that would have seen the Uchiha wiped out, and knowing that he put a stop to that personally.

Never had he been happier he had summoned Uchiha Fugaku to his office, to know that they had talked things out, and found some compromises the Uchiha could be happy with. It had been a lot of work, and he'd had a lot of headache, but he is oh so glad now.

He steeled himself. Time to deal with his _old friend_.

Enough was enough.

Someone who went behind his back like that could not be called a friend, let alone loyal enough to their Hokage to hold such powerful position in the village.

Shikaku, who had read all he had, who knew what he knew, eyed him with a steel look in his eyes.

Hiruzen answered his look with an identical one. "I want you to gather a team of three. One you trust above all else, but that is talented enough for the mission to be carried out without anyone being the wiser. I don't care what rank they are or what current responsibilities they now have."

"Even if they are a jounin sensei?"

"Anyone." Hiruzen said. "If possible have them replaced for the duration of the mission, otherwise give the genin some time off. This mission has priority."

The head of the Nara clan nodded. "What is the mission, Hokage-sama?"

"I hereby order, with no mission specific paperwork to be written up at this point in time, the assassination of Shimura Danzo for crimes against the village. Once the mission is done, I will provide the necessary paperwork, but I won't risk any word of this reaching him in time to warn him and take precautions, or worse, give him enough time to get away. This is a priority, Shikaku."

Shikaku bowed to him and shinshuned away.

Hiruzen locked his fingers together and rested his chin on them. He closed his eyes and recalled the bright boy Danzo had once been.

"Farewell, old friend."

It was time to rid himself of that soft façade he'd been using for years and to remind people just why he had been chosen as Hokage by his sensei, and not Danzo.

Time to get rid of the rotten roots of his village.

_Naruto_

"Sasuke is being very weird, lately." Naruto commented nonchalantly as he dipped his paintbrush into the paint.

It was the day after the groceries situation, and Sasuke had kept to his word. About two hours after he'd seen him in the village, Sasuke had shown up at the door, bags in hand. Naruto had been so surprised he'd stared at the other for a few seconds in shock. Sasuke had flushed, pushed the bags in his arms and held out a few receipts.

As if in a dream, Naruto had paid him.

"If you need more, just give me a list. I don't mind helping out." Sasuke had said before bolting off.

Huh… Well, wasn't that strange? Nice, but strange. Naruto wasn't sure what to think, but he'd paid about half of what he would have paid if he'd gone himself, so he wasn't going to complain. Hell, he might just ask Sasuke to do this again.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at him but didn't voice his question.

Naruto huffed. Seriously, talking wasn't that hard. "Really weird."

They had finally started painting the walls. Itachi and Shisui had helped him pick out the colours, and then had even gone and bought them at the store.

It had been a battle, agreeing on colours. Naruto had fallen in love with a bright orange, but both Uchiha had pulled a veto on that. They had convinced him to a gentler orange – some sort of light pastel colour.

He'd liked it, don't get him wrong, but it wasn't the same. Seeing it on the walls now, he agreed with them. The bright one might have been a bit much.

This one was nice, and it gave the room a warm and cosy feeling.

Not that he'd ever tell them. He really didn't want to listen to Shisui's gloating and Itachi's little all-too-knowing smile.

Shisui wasn't here today, since he was out on another mission, so it was only him and Itachi.

Team 7 would arrive later on, after their training.

"Is he now?" Itachi commented vaguely, after some silence.

"Yeah, he's being nice to me now. It's suspicious. He even bought me groceries the other day."

Itachi turned towards him with a raised eyebrow as if to say 'and?'.

"Yes, yes, being nice is not that strange. You said that already." Naruto rolled his eyes. "But it is still so weird anyway."

"Sasuke saw fit to start complaining about his mission at dinner. I simply… explained some things to him." Itachi said as if talking about the weather. "I didn't do anything more than that. What he took from it, or how he decided to act afterwards, is not my responsibility."

"Sure, sure, because you don't know your brother well enough to know what will make him change his behaviour." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Indeed." Itachi shot him a smile.

Naruto huffed but couldn't help but smile back.

"It's nice though, and the groceries are much cheaper like this!" Naruto admitted.

Itachi only hummed.

"It is nice. I wonder… Do you think he'll stop once the mission is done? Being nicer, I mean. Do you think he'll stop?" He asked unsure.

"I can't really answer for him, of course, but I don't think so. Sasuke doesn't have many friends, and he is kind to even fewer people. Once that boy makes up his mind on something, he won't just change it."

"That's nice." Naruto bit his lip, not sure if he could, and wanted, to believe that. Better to expect the worst – that way he couldn't be disappointed.

It was hard not to hope though. A friend would be nice.

Itachi shot him a look.

"Same for me and Shisui. We've been having fun here. We might not be around as much afterwards, but I at least plan on coming over again. You might want to start looking into those permanent keys to the seal wards."

Naruto flushed, but grinned happily. "I will."

"And we'll see each other in the village as well. I know where you live now."

"Sure, sure. Of course we'll see each other." Naruto flushed and bit his lip again.

He had no intention of going back to living in the village once this place was done though. He felt a bit guilty about not saying so to Itachi. Not yet at least. He'd need to tell someone at some point. No way was he keeping that crappy apartment after this.

Not looking at Itachi, he dipped his brush in the paint again, and focused on getting his new home liveable.

"You might want to get some new furniture in here as well. A good couch, for example. Have you tried to made that screen in the corner work yet?"

"No, not yet, and really, a couch? I have chairs…" Naruto said unsure.

"A good couch is very relaxing. It's also more comfortable to try and read in." A knowing smile was shot his way.

"Hmm, maybe. I've never had a couch before." He thought out loud. "Could be fun. And I have money now, so that's not a problem."

And indeed he had. Jiji gave him a stipend for everyday living and shopping and it was a whole lot more than he'd gotten from the orphan fund. Still, he had no idea how expensive a couch was… But Jiji said to talk to him about more expensive things he wanted to buy. He was allowed to ask for more. The paint and all other stuff for the house (and mission pay) had come from the fund Jiji had in trust for him. So why not a couch.

"Shall I put it on the list?" Itachi smiled.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Oh, did you write some kitchen stuff on the list as well? Like pots and stuff." He asked.

"Not yet. I'll do that right away." Itachi set his own brush down and went to the notepad sitting on the counter to their right.

They must make a strange scene. Itachi spotless and Naruto covered in paint spots. The blond snickered, imagining Itachi with paint splatter on him.

It would be nice if Itachi indeed kept his word. Once the mission was over, he wished some of them would keep showing up.

He didn't want to hope for that – disappointment and all – but part of him really couldn't help it.

The next few days seemed to fly by. They were making really good progress. During the day, team 7 showed up and helped clean up the place with Itachi and Shisui.

It helped that he had somewhat of a steady crew to help out instead of doing everything alone.

Itachi and Shisui were a big help. Even if Shisui liked to fool around a lot, they got stuff done. Shisui was around less than Itachi, but apparently he had missions he couldn't get out of. He'd told

Naruto he took some extra missions so Itachi could relax a bit? Whatever that meant. Itachi had just thoroughly cleaned the bathroom. He had even installed some new tubes with Kakashi when the old ones proved rusted beyond belief.

No way was this relaxing.

It did make Naruto wonder though. Was this what shinobi got to learn? How to fix homes and clean?

Izumo had finished with the books and had taken care of the big water tank buried outside. And yes, it was big. It had taken Kakashi a while to fill it up.

Once the job was done, Izumo had left. He hadn't come back to the property, but Naruto had seen him while in the village and the man had cheerfully waved at him.

It was something, right?

On the other hand, Sasuke kept throwing him looks like he was thinking really hard. He didn't really insult Naruto a lot any more and he had asked to the point that Naruto had gotten annoyed to get another grocery list. Apparently, he really liked shopping or something. Sasuke didn't say why, but the groceries were impeccable, so Naruto wasn't complaining. Sasuke even seemed to try and talk a bit to him. It didn't work that well, and Itachi had more than once jumped in to see the conversation.

It was weird.

The biggest change was Sakura. She too was throwing him looks. Not the annoyed, or angry looks she used to, but... He couldn't really put a word on it. The other day, she had tried to pass him lunch with such a strained smile, Naruto had backed away from her cautiously. It had shocked her, for some strange reason.

But at least she wasn't yelling at him or hitting him any more. She even seemed to make some effort and tried to be… nice?

So, all in all, it was... progress?

Either way, the kitchen upstairs and even most of the rooms had been cleaned and could be used. Even the bathroom worked now. He had running water in the whole building.

It was a relief. He couldn't wait to really move in. He hadn't yet, couldn't, or rather, didn't want to.

Mostly because he wasn't sure he wanted the others to know he'd done so and, while he hadn't a lot of stuff, they would have noticed if all his clothes and things started showing up.

The room upstairs were almost exactly the same, so he had chosen one at random to dump his stuff in. Four rooms, a big bathroom and a kitchen.

Tomorrow would be the last day team 7 would show up. Their mission, it had been decided, had come to an end.

Naruto couldn't complain about that, honestly. Really, they had been a big help. He couldn't imagine having to do this all by himself… He would surely have messed at least something (if not everything) up.

Still he was somewhat sad at the thought they wouldn't come back after tomorrow. He had grown used to them and really, all in all, they hadn't been as bad as he had feared.

He sat in one of his new couches, that Itachi had insisted upon, with one of his books in his lap. He had tried reading a bit every evening but the words were hard and a lot of them he had never heard of. Still, he loved the books. Well, book. He hadn't tried reading more than one yet.

It seemed to mostly talk about the building, or so he assumed. This had been a business of some sort. If he understood it correctly. It sounded so crazy though. It spoke of unknown creatures, of a business that never charged people, and of things he'd never heard of before.

This building had once been called a Pokémon Centre. They were big places of healing and rest, once. Travellers could spend the night in them, free of charge. That was probably what the rooms upstairs had been for...  
People could enjoy a drink at one of the counters, could buy items at another and heal up their creatures, or at least so he assumes. They could heal their Pokémon.

But he wasn't sure exactly what that meant but he assumed that was some kind of creature. A pet maybe? Like cats? Or maybe a partner? Like Akamaru was to Kiba?

He wasn't sure.

Once everyone had been gone for a good long while, he put his book aside. He waited until he was sure he had felt them leave through the wards before he got up and, with his trusty flash-light (you never knew), went to inspect the basement.

It was the same seal again. He had thought so when he had first seen the door, but he hadn't wanted to study it too closely with others present, so he bit his finger (he was getting good at this) and smeared some blood on it. The seal shone and a click sounded.

He pushed the door open and flashed his flash-light inside. He stepped in and quickly found the light switch. Naruto flicked it on.

It looked like a storage space, since it contained lots of boxes. Luckily there were words written on the boxes, probably to tell what was inside.

There is another door at the far end of the room, but Naruto briefly studied the boxes first.

Healing berries, poke food, balls, stones, and more.

Why would anyone store balls and stones? He scratched his head again, starting to wonder.

Balls, sure, like those balls kids played with at the village playground, but stones? Why would anyone store balls and stones in boxes though.

Healing was always handy. He couldn't remember ever being sick but... Oh well. He was sure he could use it for something.

Berries though? Would there be anything left of them in there? Maybe they stayed fresh because of another seal? His dead family sure liked to use it a lot, so why not?

The room wasn't as dusty as the house upstairs had been, but it was still dusty. He'd need to clean it later on.

He left this room be for now, and entered through the door to the next room.

His eyes widened. What the…? This place was huge!

This was... so much bigger than the house upstairs. How did this fit? They were on top of the Hokage monument, right? So where did this all fit? Would he find an opening somewhere and look out onto the village from a Hokage's nose or something?

He really hoped not. Never mind.

It was almost cave like and there hung a mysterious vibe. The strangest thing though, was that the room was filled with all kinds of different eggs. There were different colours, sizes... It was amazing.

He wondered what was in them. These couldn't be simple chicken eggs. No way was anyone cooking with these…

He was curious though. These eggs had to have been here for ages. Such a long time... Would it even be possible?

He'd try anyway. He had never hatched an egg before. All he knew was that it should be kept warm, right? Because chickens sat on their eggs, right? He'd seen so on TV.

He wasn't one to give up before he even started though.

Maybe, just maybe... He read a bit about those creatures, those pokemon... Not a lot, but enough that they seemed to come in all sorts of shapes and colours.

Just the thought that he might be able to hatch one of these beings...

He looked around, trying to see if he saw an egg that stood out from the others.

The egg that drew his eye was bright orange. Of course it was, orange was awesome and obviously the best colour!

He immediately picked it up. It was so big! He had to carry it with both his arms.

Big, and warm? He pressed his face gently to its surface. Yeah, nice and warm. He smiled.

He took the egg back upstairs. After making sure to close all the doors again, he sat it down before the couch. He ran towards the kitchen, got a piece of tissue and cleaned the dust off the egg.

The orange was even clearer now.

Such a pretty colour. It wasn't a super bright orange but is was darker than his walls and he loved it.

It was a good sign it was still warm, right? It meant whatever was inside was still alive, didn't it?

He hugged it close and sat down on his couch.

Yeah, Naruto would never tell him, but Itachi had been right about the couch. It was comfy.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokemon! I just like playing with them.

Beta: the lovely **Pure Red Crane**. Thank you for all your hard work! xD

**Chapter 5**

_Hiruzen_

He walked through the tunnels of Root headquarters. When Shikaku had told him about the children, he had insisted on seeing them first. Nothing in the clan heads rapport indicated any sort of trouble that needed immediate looking after.

The cells, because while there weren't any bars the small rooms couldn't be called anything else, were surprisingly empty. Only a few children, around Naruto's age, looked up when their doors were unlocked. It left him with a heavy heart. Where were the others? Countless empty rooms were opened. There had been children, once. What had happened to them?

What exactly had Danzo done?

When all the children were taken away, for a medical check-up, Hiruzen turned his attention back to his jounin commander.

"Where is he?"

Shikaku gestured, and Hiruzen followed one of his most trusted shinobi through the corridors and into an open room. There, he saw Danzo, still half seated at a small table with paperwork before him. He was dead, having been laid out on his back. There were no bandages in sight.

He had never felt as old as he did now, standing here and looking down at his old friend.

Danzo was dead on his orders. He stood by his decision, but that did not make it any easier. Danzo had been his teammate. They had known each other for decades, had the same sensei, had spent so much time together. Once, he had been the best advisor Hiruzen could have asked for. Because every great leader needed someone who dared disagree with them. It helped make thought-out decisions.

Not anymore though. He knew he made the right decision. He could see it.

Because the evidence was in his old friend's corpse. His left eye, which had been destroyed years ago in battle had been replaced with a sharingan eye. He had three other eyes surgically stuck in his so-called useless left arm.

Hiruzen could only assume they were from Uchiha, currently presumed missing by the village. Ever since a way had been found to bring peace between the village and the Uchiha clan, more Uchiha had gone on active duty missions.

A surprising number had not returned. Most shinobi, even the clan itself (but they would never admit to it), had thought it was because they had been out of practice.

Now? He had a new theory.

"Get me Uchiha Fugaku. Tell him it is urgent, and bring him here." he said to one of his hidden anbu guards.

"Hai. "

He was not looking forward to that conversation. Still, this couldn't wait.

He had plans for the Uchiha. Well, for one of them in particular.

The Uchiha in question was too young still, but he had time. He needed time to make his plans a reality. And for that, he needed the clan on his side. Preferably all the clans.

It had been a long time since he had made plans like this, plans that took years in the making. Last time, it hadn't turned out well. His choice had been impeccable. Even now, years later, he still believed that.

But Minato had died. And Hiruzen had no choice but to come back. Well, it had been either giving up his retirement or let Danzo try and get his hand on the Hokage title.

Still, he had already retired once and he wasn't getting any younger.

His chosen successor was still young, too young. But the coming years would prove whether or not his instincts were still what they once were.

_Naruto_

Naruto had taken to reading by the fireplace in the evenings, the orange egg by his side, sitting in the brown couch Shisui and Itachi had brought him. He was alone now. The work at his new house done. Team 7 had left for the last time today. He had forgotten to ask Sasuke if he would be willing to continue doing his groceries. It had taken him by surprise. Their mission had finished so quickly. It wasn't sudden though. He just hadn't been paying enough attention. They had left, and now he sat downstairs, snuggling in a blanket, trying to read.

He had found a book that was more general, mostly talking about the functions of the building he was now residing in. Or at least, that is what he assumed. This building sure resembled how the book described Pokémon centres… It was quite informative. Pokémon centres were places of healing and rest. Weary travellers could spend the night there, simply enjoy a drink, and heal up their Pokémon. After much reading, he could assume Pokémon meant all those strange creatures he had never heard of before this. Pokémon, they were called.

He couldn't wait to read his other books, which went into more detail about these creatures.

It was a novel thought, wanting to read.

It took a while though. The book used a lot of big words, but he usually got the gist of it.

It certainly explained why the place had been built so weirdly. Somehow this place was dependant on these Pokémon to keep running. Some Pokémon could help heal others, some helped keep their water supply filled up, others helped keep their generator charged…

He wasn't sure exactly how these animals did this – at least, he assumed they were animals? This book didn't go into detail.

And he didn't want to read multiple books at the same time. That would make it even more confusing. No thank you.

Still, it was quite fascinating.

The bar part of the room had sold something they called berry juice. Which made him ache to try things out. How awesome would it be if he could remake some of those drinks? He had seen lots of boxes labelled 'Berries' downstairs, so he should be able to try. If somehow those berries had survived the centuries…

Maybe he could try and maybe he open a bar?

No. He slumped down in disappointment. What was the point? No one would visit a bar opened by the Kyuubi…

That did bring new questions with it though.

Naruto had dreamed since he was young about becoming Hokage, so people would care and acknowledge him. But that wasn't possible anymore.

Even if Jiji managed to change the laws, if it really did become possible, was that really possible for him? It wouldn't be change soon, and he wasn't allowed to train in the meantime…

And honestly, after learning the truth, would becoming a shinobi really help change the opinion of the people living here?

He now knew that their hate wasn't because of something he had done. But no, it wasn't any disaster he had forgotten about.

Becoming a shinobi and even Hokage wouldn't help.

So, what now? What was he going to do?

He needed a job, right? Jiji had given him money, but could he really live off that? Probably not. And even if he could, he didn't see himself doing nothing for the rest of his days… that was just asking to be bored.

So what were his options? Working in the village? Snort. Yeah, no way.

Opening a shop or something? That wasn't going to work as long as he lived in Konoha…

The attitude of the village was a big problem all around…

He looked around the room, until a crack turned his attention away.

It wasn't loud, but it was loud enough in the silence to draw his gaze.

It was the egg. For a second, he felt panic. His egg had cracks in it! How the hell had that happened? He hadn't bumped it against anything!?

It wiggled, and the crack widened.

His eyes grew impossibly wide.

Was that…?

Was it hatching?

It moved around, more pronounced now, and the cracks grew even bigger.

He couldn't believe the egg was hatching! There were cracks all around it now, and it was shaking like mad.

He sat it down on his seat on the couch and kneeled next to it, so he wouldn't miss anything. There was a bright flash of light and he had to shield his eyes against it. When the light was gone, there was no more egg, not even egg shells.

But there was a little animal in its place. It was a bright orangey red and, ironically, it looked like a fox.

It uncurled, and yawned.

Fox or not, that was just adorable! It was just too cute, even the tails. Yes, there was more than one tail. Five, if he could still count. It had four little paws were a little lighter in colour than the rest of its fur, making it look like it wore little socks. Naruto grinned widely and gently reached out to pet it.

It became startled and he froze, not sure what to do next. The big grey eyes studied him and came closer to sniff at his fingers.

Naruto held his breath.

The little fox must have liked him, because it rubbed against his hand.

Naruto's grin widened as he petted its head.

"Vulpix!" the creature said in delight.

"That's strange." He muttered to himself. Could it…talk? And what had it just said?

"Vul. Vulpix." It looked expectant at him.

"Vul-pix?" he repeated unsurely. "Is that your name or something?"

"Pix!"

Huh, it actually beamed at him.

"So, you can only say your own name?" He scratched the side of his head.

Vulpix came closer, and rubbed itself against him.

"You want more scratches, don't you?" He grinned again.

They ended up cuddling a while before his stomach declared its empty state. He laughed sheepishly and carried Vulpix to the kitchen in the room just upstairs.

"Now, let's see. Do I have anything we can eat?" he mused.

Naruto rummaged a bit through his cupboards. Sure, Sasuke had brought him some groceries the other day, but it had mostly been Ramen cups and stuff that wasn't food.

"Hmm, do you eat ramen?" he asked it.

Vulpix looked up in question. It clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

Naruto scratched his head again. Hadn't Kiba once said something about pets not being able to eat human food? That time, Choji had given away some chips. Something about making them sick?

So, what was he to do now?

Wait…maybe there was something in those boxes in the basement? Hadn't there been some with the word food written on them?

He eyed the little fox with a frown. Might be best not to leave it alone…

"Come on then."

He gathered the fox back into his arms, and went downstairs, opening the seal to the basement again. He switched on the light, and immediately made his way to the box that read Pokefood.

He set Vulpix down next to the crate. There was another seal on there, and without paying it too much attention he opened the big crate.

It was filled by brownish pellets. He took a few in his hand and marveled at them. They felt sturdy and dry.

He kneeled and offered one to his new buddy. Vulpix sniffled at it and tentatively munched on it.

It blinked and then cheered in delight. "Vulpix!"

Naruto grinned. One less thing to worry about.

Although… It was a big crate, but… He would run out at some point, right?

He sighed, deciding to worry about it later. First, he had to feed his little friend and himself.

He grabbed a handful and held it out to the little fox.

Vulpix sniffled at the food held out, and then munched on a pellet.

"Vulpix!" It seemed very happy and quickly ate the rest he held out.

That was a relief.

And a worry. At some point he would run out of pellets, right? He would need to find someone to help him with this… But who? It would have to be someone in the village. Who wouldn't mind helping and had the knowledge to actually help. Hmmm, Kiba's family?

He grabbed another handful and presented it to the little fox. It ate about half, before slowing down and just munching a bit lazily. Taking this as a sign that Vulpix had enough, Naruto dropped the rest he had in his hand back into the crate.

He took Vulpix back upstairs, not sure what to do next. He sat back down on his couch and scratched his head. Vulpix looked at him, and tilted its head.

"I don't even know if you are a boy or a girl." Naruto grumbled. "I can't keep calling you _it_ in my head." He tilted his own head. Vulpix copied him, turning its head the other way. Naruto tilted his head the other way, just to see what Vulpix would do. It mirrored him again. He snorted and busted out laughing. "That was just too cute." The blond picked up Vulpix and hugged it, rubbing his head in its fur.

"Vulpix." It snuggled close as well.

It takes a few days for his new routine to form. He makes a ball out of paper and plays with Vulpix a lot. They read together, played together, ate at the same time, and Vulpix snuggled against him when he slept. He still did his chores. He kept the place dust free and took care of his growing veggies (he had been so happy when his first plant had sprouted, dancing around the garden and Vulpix happily dancing along).

It was nice, even if Naruto wasn't used to having someone around all the time. It probably helped that Vulpix wasn't human. He didn't think he had ever seen any human look at him with such emotion in their eyes before. He wasn't sure what emotion it was, but felt so nice. His chest felt ready to burst with some equally-unnamed positive emotion.

It was a breath of fresh air, especially now that neither Team 7, nor Itachi or Shisui came around. He wasn't stupid. He knew they couldn't actually get in. Not without him given them some blood. But he hadn't felt them lingering around his wards either. They had just stopped showing up, as he had feared from the beginning. Never mind. He had known this would be a possibility. No need to feel sad about that. He had Vulpix now, and he didn't think Vulpix would ever leave. The little fox didn't even let him go to the bathroom alone. It insisted on going with him and stare at him. It had been very uncomfortable, in the beginning, but Naruto had gotten used to it soon enough.

He spent quite a few days like that, with just Vulpix as company. To be honest, he had lost track of the days, so he had no idea what the date was. Was it Friday? Saturday? Monday? He had no idea. He didn't mind either. What did days of the weeks matter when he was having fun with Vulpix? Still he was almost out of food, and he needed to see Jiji. He had questions.

He had examined all the boxes downstairs. The berries were still intact, and there were a lot of different ones. He had tried giving some to Vulpix to eat, and some were devoured, while others weren't touched. It probably had something to do with taste. Naruto wasn't too fond of some vegetables either. Having these berries had given him an idea.

People planted plants and trees, right? By putting seeds into the ground?

Could he actually start growing berries? On bushes or trees or even little plants? He had no idea. But he wanted to try. He was going to assume he couldn't just stick the berries into the ground though… He needed help. With the pellets as well.

He wanted to start hatching other eggs as well. Not all at once, of course, but one or two at a time would be nice. He was very curious to see what other creatures – sorry, Pokémon – were in the basement.

For that, he needed answers, and maybe Jiji could point him towards the right people. Maybe he could make it another missions, if they didn't want to help?

Either way, he needed to go into the village.

He steeled his heart one morning. Leaving Vulpix behind was heart-breaking. The little fox whined as he closed the door and locked it inside. But he didn't want to risk it going into the village. He feared how the villagers would react to a tailed fox. Vulpix had only five tails, but a fox with any number of tails sparked irrational fear and actions. He would not risk it.

So, Naruto found himself walking through the village, deep in thought, when someone called his name.

"Naruto-kun."

He turned around. Itachi was walking his way, hand raised and waving at him. Naruto shot an uneasy look at the people around him, who watched the scene with disbelief.

"It's been a while since I saw you last. How are you?" Itachi asked as he fell in step with Naruto.

"Fine." Naruto fidgeted, not looking at the guy.

Itachi blinked at him. "Are you on an errand?"

"Yeah, I'm going to see Jiji."

"May I come along?"

"Why?" Naruto asked with a raise eyebrow. He hadn't honestly thought any of them would seek him out, or wanted to spend time with him after their mission was done.

Itachi shot him a smile. "It's been a few days since I saw my friend, and I want to catch up."

Naruto frowned at him. "What friend?"

"You, of course. I would have come sooner, but I was on a mission outside the village and only got back yesterday."

Naruto eyed him warily.

Itachi tilted his head. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nope." He looked away quickly.

"You thought...we didn't stick around. Don't you?" Itachi asked with a tired sigh.

Naruto flushed, and spat out angrily. "Well, what else was I supposed to think?! Your mission is done, and suddenly no one shows up anymore."

"Even Sasuke and Sakura-san?"

He shrugged. "I went to check, see if anyone was waiting at the wards. No one showed up."

"Hmmm, I can't speak for Sakura-San, but I know Sasuke seemed moodier than usual yesterday. Does he still bring you groceries?"

"No, but... I also didn't give him a list last time I saw him. I wasn't sure he wanted to keep doing that for me."

Itachi hummed. "That might explain it. He's a bit awkward, my brother. He might think he isn't welcome. Maybe you two just need to talk it over."

Naruto squinted his eyes at him, as if judging the truth in his words.

"It has only been a few days. I'm sure you two can fix this."

"It sure feels longer than just a few days." Naruto grumbled.

They arrived at the Hokage' s tower and went inside. Jiji's secretary made them wait, claiming the man too busy at the moment.

So, they waited. Naruto started fidgeting after a little while. He had never been good at waiting patiently and sitting still. Itachi kept quiet, just observing the blond. It felt uncomfortable, making it difficult for the blond to become still.

"You can go in now." the secretary said after a while.

Naruto blinked and then frowned. No one had come out of the office, so... What was up with that? Was the woman being difficult because it was him? He knew she didn't like him, but she had never singled him out or caused him trouble beyond a dirty look.

"A surprising amount of shinobi prefer to enter and leave through the window." Itachi commented with a smile as he gently pushed Naruto out of his chair.

Jiji's office was the same as always.

"Good morning!" Naruto didn't forget to say this time.

Jiji smiled at him. "Good morning, Naruto-kun. What brings you here today?"

Naruto sat down and got his list out.

"I have some stuff I want to talk about." He started unsure.

"All right." Jiji still smiled.

"All right." He felt strangely uncomfortable talking about this. "Well, I guess... I moved out of my apartment."

Naruto had half-forgotten he still had that apartment, to be honest. He hadn't gone back ever since he had gotten his stuff.

Jiji blinked at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's just... I have a house now. It seemed stupid to keep paying for the apartment?" he said, fidgeting.

Jiji stared at him before sighing deeply and rubbing at his eyes. "And how long have you been sleeping in your house? Did you move all your stuff already?"

Naruto nodded quickly.

"Of course, you did." Jiji sighed again. "I'm very concerned about that, Naruto-kun."

"I thought it would have been obvious. That I would move, I mean. I have been building a vegetable patch, after all." He scratched his head.

"That is not... No one but you has access to that house, Naruto-kun. If you hurt yourself in any way and can't come down to the village, no one could go check on you. We'd never know."

He frowned in thought, not seeing what the problem was. "So? It's not that different from before."

"It is. Anyone can go to your apartment and knock." Jiji sighed again before he shot Naruto a long frowny look. "All right, as your legal guardian, I will allow you to live there, but I want you to give a permanent access seal to at least two people."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest.

"You may choose who you give the seal to yourself, but I won't change my mind about this."

Naruto frowned. "Well, one is for you, of course, Jiji." Naruto said after thinking a bit. "The other... Do you want it?"

Itachi blinked in surprise as Naruto addressed him. The blond flushed, but refused to look away.

"I'd be honoured."

"Alright, that's that then. I don't have much time left, so we'll come by your place tomorrow and I'll teach you how to apply the seals." Jiji was smiling at them. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the old man. "Now, Naruto-kun, was there something else you wanted to discuss?"

"Yeah, I...I'd like to grow some trees. Or bushes. I am not sure. For berries. All I have are the berries though. I found them in the basement. And I'm not sure how to... Do I just stick the berries into the ground?"

Both blinked at him. He was clearly surprised them with his question.

"Berries?" Jiji asked confused. "You want to grow berries now?"

"So, you waited until we were gone to go into that basement, ka?" Itachi asked with a very small smile.

Naruto flushed, and looked away with a small noise.

Jiji chuckled. "Concerning your problem, I am not sure I am the best person to ask. I suggest you ask the Yamanaka's. They have a flower shop and they grow most of their plants for their store. They should be able to help."

"Will they want to though? Help, I mean."

"If you want, Naruto-kun, I'll go with you. Make sure they treat you fairly." Itachi said immediately.

"Don't you have better things to do?" Naruto tilted his head in question. After Vulpix constantly mirroring him, it was strange to see that Itachi didn't.

"I like helping out friends." Itachi smiled his little smile again, nearly invisible.

"well, that is arranged then. Itachi will help you out with your errands today, and we shall all see each other tomorrow morning, bright and early, for those permanent entrance seals." JIji smiled at Naruto.

Naruto felt a bit unsure still, but allowed an answering smile.

**TBC.**

AN: I love all your guesses to what Pokémon Naruto could possibly be hatching ^^ It was always going to be a Vulpix though. Vulpix is one of my all-time favourites and it fits Naruto really well. I hope that doesn't disappoint any off you?

Also, do you like the Hiruzen POV?


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